Use of Forums as a marketing tool

Hello;

I've considering placing a forum on a web site I am creating. From a marketing perspective, I am wondering if there are any disadvantages to this that I may not be thinking of.

A forum seems to be a great way to generate content that will get picked up and indexed. I have the potential to generate a good volume of high quality traffic if I get people onto the forum. Currently, I frequently write 5,000 words a day or more in responses on other peoples forums and mailings lists. I would work to get those people onto my forum to ask the questions. Which shouldn't be too hard because my answers are of a fairly high value to the people asking for my help. I strongly suspect I will be able to gather a fairly good amount of high value information from these clients (with permission of course).

Is there anything with indexing and search engines that I should be aware of that could adversely affect my site if I have a forum on it?

Is the main problem people have with using a forum as a marketing tool getting traffic and quality content in the forum?

Thanks,
j

 

I don’t quite understand why having a meeting
is an excuse not to provide support for several days.
It just blows my mind !

 

I think creating a forum is a good idea, but getting it off the ground and getting returning visitors who participate frequently will be a challenge, however. Having said that, all "big name" forums on the internet started somewhere, so you might as well go for it and hopefully it will take off.

 

Thanks for your comments.

J

 

If you can put effort to keep it clean, then yes its a great idea.

 

I do not know what's your mean.

 

yes. forum can be useful tool to promote and market your product.
it also a platform where you and your client to discuss and communicate.
to maintain and keep the forum running is another issue.

 

Yes, Forum or Blog on your website is good idea wrt marketing and search engine indexing because Search Engine Like fresh content

I'd recommend you to read the following posts

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/155030/7_tips_to_creating_a_successful_forum.html
http://www.seorefugee.com/seoblog/2007/02/08/10-tips-for-promoting-your-forum/

You must keep forum clean and must have at least 1 hour daily to spend on it

 

Forum implementation is easy in site. But to maintain it, need much time. If you offer some incentives to moderators then it can helpful. If you not have moderators, then your forum will be full with spam. If you can control spam with IP ban software and moderators then go for it.

 

Forums rely on the strength of what people post! if you can send personal invites to people who are on other forums that post good content (with permission from the admins) as long as its related and not directly competing I'm guessing they would be ok with it?